Poems in The Weight of Kindling focus on three stages of a woman's life: her childhood experiences with a beloved grandmother, her young adult adventures as she backpacks through parts of Europe and Asia, and her "grown-up" life as a wife, mother, and more. The poems are compassionate, inquisitive, and full of verve. In the stories they present one senses the author's full embrace of life, with all of its dangers, delights, and complexities.